In this thread , gothedistance suggested:
For quick and easy - use a longe whip with the thong tied back onto itself along the shaft (runing it down the shaft and then doubling back to the top, tying both ends with baling twine) so that you only have about 36" dangling, not the full 5’. Don’t carry the whip by the handle - carry it with your hand on the shaft just in advance of the handle. That will allow it to balance better in your hand.
So today before working with the pony, I made myself a White Trash Driving Whip
Please note that the baling twine is color-coordinated with the whip - only the best for us here at Green Acres.
I think I need to re-work it, because the lash kept getting caught on the ends of the baling twine. Maybe just use some carpet thread to fold the lash back on itself.
But it’s festive!
We did about 15 minutes in the arena this morning with the back half of his harness, his bridle, and the lines run through the tugs. I left the arena gate open for added difficulty
We clearly have some kind of gravity flux going on, because his furry little body just gets sucked towards that gate every time we go by.
Today, we did lots of turning, walked through the cavalletti a couple times, and only worked a little on “whoa” (mainly because I got so caught up in the steering that I forgot about stopping - oops!)
I forget who (probably more than one person) suggested walking off to the side so I could see his head - that was very helpful. I spent most of the time off to one side or the other, and only went right behind him a couple times.
When we were done in the arena, we took a quick trip out the driveway to the road, then went out back to visit the boys (who were eating and barely looked up), navigating around the muck cart, then left the boys behind (we weren’t sure we really wanted to do that) to go get untacked.
So - a nice little workout, with no drama.
Baby steps, baby steps. :yes: